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Bannerlord's Calradia has eight kingdoms and no two of them win the same way. One drowns you in horse archers, another rides you down with heavy knights, another simply outlasts everyone behind its terrain.
So when players ask which faction is strongest, the honest answer is that it depends on whether you mean the kingdom the computer plays best, or the one that hands you the deadliest army when you fight for it. This tier list weighs both.
A quick note on what this is not. This ranks the kingdoms as powers and as sides to fight for. If you are choosing your own character's culture at the very start, that is a slightly different question, and we cover it in our best culture guide linked at the bottom.
Four things decide where a faction lands: the quality of its troop tree, its economy, its geography on the map, and how well it tends to do when the computer runs it.
Where a faction is much stronger in your hands than the game's, we say so, because that gap is the whole story for some of them.
| Tier | Factions |
| S | Khuzait Khanate, Vlandia |
| A | The Empire (Northern, Southern, Western), Battania |
| B | Aserai |
| C | Sturgia |
S Tier
Khuzait Khanate
The strongest faction the computer runs, full stop. Khuzait warfare is built on mobility: their armies harass, encircle, and exhaust slower enemies before closing in, and in the hands of the AI that translates into relentless snowballing across the eastern steppe.
Their elite Khan's Guard is one of the standout units in the whole game, a horse archer that can shoot you to pieces and then charge. The only knock is that playing Khuzait yourself can feel one note, since the answer to most problems is more horse archers. If you want to back a winner, this is it.
Vlandia
The best all rounder and the safest strong pick. Vlandia fields the game's premier heavy cavalry in its Banner Knights, backed by hard hitting crossbowmen in the Sharpshooters, and it sits on the western edge of the map.
That geography is a quiet advantage: with an ocean at its back, Vlandia is less exposed than the central kingdoms, and its natural line of expansion pushes east rather than opening a border on every side. Strong troops, strong economy, strong position. It is hard to go wrong here whether the AI runs it or you do.
A Tier
The Empire (Northern, Southern, and Western)
The Empire has the best rounded troop tree in Calradia. It can field excellent infantry in the Legionaries, elite cavalry in the Cataphracts, and top archers in the Palatine Guard, so an Imperial army has an answer to everything. The reason it is not in S tier is geography and politics.
The Empire occupies the center of the map and is split into three rival kingdoms, which means it is forever fighting on multiple fronts and being ganged up on. In your hands, with a competent commander, Imperial troops are arguably the best in the game. Run by the AI and surrounded on all sides, the three Empires often bleed each other dry.
Battania
The player's power pick. Battania's claim to fame is the Fian Champion, an archer so lethal that many players consider it the single best unit in Bannerlord, capable of deleting elite enemies before they ever close the distance. Stack an army of them behind Battania's forested, defensible terrain and you are frightening.
The catch is that Battania is weak where it counts for the AI: its cavalry is poor, and left to the computer it tends to underperform and lose ground. So this is a high A tier for a player and a middling faction for the AI, one of the biggest gaps on this list.
B Tier
Aserai
The steady desert kingdom. Aserai's strength is its economy, fed by lucrative desert trade towns, and a genuinely defensible home region where attackers have to cross open sand to reach you.
Its troops, led by the Mameluke heavy cavalry, are competent across the board without being the best at anything, a jack of all trades tree. Aserai rarely dominates and rarely collapses. It is a solid, unspectacular pick that rewards patience and a strong treasury more than raw military edge.
C Tier
Sturgia
The underdog, and the faction most likely to be losing when you load a campaign. Sturgia's problems are real: its cavalry is the weakest in the game, and boxed in between the Empire, Vlandia, and the Khuzaits, it often gets snowballed early by the AI.
What keeps it off the absolute bottom is that its heavy infantry, the Heavy Axemen, and its skirmishers are genuinely strong, and in a player's hands Sturgia can become a defensive monster, holding forests and chokepoints with a wall of shields and axes while raiders wither outside the walls. Weakest as an AI power, but a rewarding challenge if you like playing the comeback story.
If you just want a fast answer for your next campaign:
There is no single faction that wins every part of Bannerlord, and any tier list that pretends otherwise is selling you something. Khuzait and Vlandia are the safest strong choices, the Empire and Battania give a player the deadliest armies if you can manage their weaknesses, Aserai is the patient economic play, and Sturgia is the underdog project.
Pick the one whose way of winning matches how you like to fight, and the tier is almost a formality.
What is the strongest faction in Bannerlord?
When the computer runs it, the Khuzait Khanate is the strongest, thanks to its mobile horse archer armies that snowball across the map. Vlandia is the strongest safe all rounder for both the AI and the player.
Which faction has the best troops?
The Empire has the most complete troop tree, with elite infantry, cavalry, and archers. For a single best unit, Battania's Fian Champion is widely considered the deadliest, which makes Battania the top pick for a player who leans on archers.
What is the weakest faction in Bannerlord?
Sturgia is usually the weakest when run by the AI, mainly because of its poor cavalry and exposed position. In a player's hands, though, its heavy infantry makes it a strong defensive faction.
Which faction should I join or fight for?
For raw strength, Vlandia or the Khuzaits. For the best army you can build yourself, Battania or the Empire. For a defensive economic game, Aserai. Sturgia is the pick if you want a challenge and a comeback.
Is this the same as choosing a culture at character creation?
Not quite. This tier list ranks the kingdoms as powers. Choosing your own character's culture at the start affects your bonuses and starting troops, which we cover in our separate best culture guide.
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